Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin

DVD Cover

Country	Russia
Language	Russian
Creator	Yevgeni Tatarsky
Broadcast	2002
No. of Seasons	1
No. of Episodes	10 (5x2)

Main Cast
Character	Actor

Nero Wolfe	Donatas Banionis
Archie Goodwin	Sergey Zhigunov
NYPD Inspector Cramer	Sergei Parshin
Lily Rowan	Lana Pauli
Fritz Brenner	Sergey Migitsko
Theodore Horstmann	Evgeniy Ilovayskiy
Saul Panzer	Aleksey Poluyan
NYPD Sgt. Purley Stebbins	Ilya Mozgovoy

Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin (Nero Wolfe i Archie Goodwin) is a 2002 Russian detective TV series, adapted from the works by Rex Stout about the famous private detective Nero Wolfe and starring Donatas Banionis as Nero Wolfe and Sergey Zhigunov as his assistant Archie Goodwin. The series consists of five two-part, feature length episodes, based on the novels and short stories "Before I Die" (Ep.1 "Poka ya ne umer"), "The Gun with Wings" (Ep.2 "Letayushiy pistolet"), "The Silent Speaker" (Ep.3 "Golos s togo sveta"), "Disguise for Murder" (Ep.4 "Delo v shlyape") and "Man Alive" (Ep.5 "Voskresnut' chtoby umeret'").

In 2004 the series was followed by the second installment, New Adventures of Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin.

WARNING! THIS PAGE CONTAINS SPOILERS!

The following weapons were used in the television series Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin:

Revolvers

Nagant M1895

Gangster "Thumbs" Meeker (Yuri Gertsman) uses a pair of Nagant M1895 revolvers in Ep.1. Of course, this gun is alien for 1930s America.

Nagant M1895 - 7.62x38R Nagant. Note the angular front sight which was used from 1930s.

"Thumbs" Meeker fires his revolvers in the climactic scene.

RS-31 / RG-31

In the climactic scene in Ep.1 Morton Schane (Aleksey Barabash) draws a snub nose revolver from the leg holster. Same looking revolver is briefly seen in hands of Saul Panzer (Aleksey Poluyan) in Ep.4. The revolver is a blank firing RS-31 or a gas firing RG-31. Both guns are in fact the same model except for different chambering: RS-31 has 6-shot cylinder for 5.6mm Gevelot small caps, RG-31-00 is also 6-shot gun in 5.6mm blank and gas ammo, and RG-31-02 is chambered in 9 mm gas ammo and has 5-shot cylinder.

RS-31 - 5.6mm Gevelot small caps. RG-31 looks nearly same.

The grip of Morton Schane's revolver is seen when he draws the gun from the leg holster.

Another view of the revolver.

Schane fires at Nero Wolfe.

Saul Panzer comes to Archie's aid (Ep.4). His revolver seems to be the same gun.

Unidentified revolvers

In one scene in Ep.1 three NYPD officers aim revolvers at Archie Goodwin. Only one gun is more or less visible, other revolvers are seen partially or very dark and blurry.

Police officers aim revolvers at Archie.

Pistols

M1911A1

Archie Goodwin (Sergey Zhigunov) owns two Colt M1911A1 pistols, one blued and another one parkerized (in the original novels Archie carries fictional gun brands, like "Grisson .38", "Marley .32" or "Farger snub nose"). Gang boss Dazy Perrit (Sergey Lysov) holds an M1911 in Ep.1. Mrs. Carlisle (Nataliya Fisson) take Archie's pistol in Ep.4.

Pre-War Colt M1911A1 - Commercial Model known as the "Colt Government Model" - .45 ACP. This has a deep Colt factory blued finish, common for commercial variants before and after the war.

Archie fires at the gunner in the car, holding his pistol "gangsta-style" (Ep.1). The spent brass is seen in midair.

Dazy Perrit aims his pistol at Archie.

Another view of Dazy Perrit's pistol.

Archie draws his pistol (Ep.2).

He holds the unloaded pistol.

Archie's pistol on the table (Ep.4).

Mrs. Carlisle fires at Archie.

The slide stops in rear position after three shots.

Both Archie's pistols are seen in the drawer (Ep.5).

Note the different finish of the guns.

Luger P08

Dazy Perrit's associate Fabian (Boris Matveev) and Perrit's bodyguard (Sergei Murzin) use Luger P08 pistols in Ep.1.

Luger P08 - 9x19mm

Perrit's bodyguard aims a Luger at Archie.

The bodyguard returns fire at the gunner in the car.

Fabian draws a pair of Lugers when he meets the rival gangster Meeker in Nero Wolfe's house.

Fabian fires at Morton Schane in the climactic scene.

FN Model 1906

Lily Rowan (Lana Pauli) holds a nickel plated FN Model 1906 pocket pistol in Ep.1. A similar looking nickel plated pocket pistol is the murder weapon in Ep.2.